Messiah College News Archive

Kelly Warner `13 and Erik Hornberger `12 are among approximately 610 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students who received a scholarship from the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship (CLS). CLS participants spend seven to 10 weeks in intensive language institutes in one of 13 countries.

Warner’s host country is Russia. She is an English major with teaching certification. Hornberger’s host country is Japan. He is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. engineering program at the University of Kansas.

The CLS program is part of a U.S. government effort to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering foreign languages.

Douglas Jacobsen, distinguished professor of church history and theology at Messiah College, has been awarded a Sabbatical Grant for Researchers from the Louisville Institute. His proposal is to write a new book on global Christianity that emphasizes both the diversity and the interconnectedness of the world Christian movement.  The volume will explain the divergent histories of Christianity in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America and will also reflect on what Christians in differing parts of the world can learn from each other.

The Louisville Institute’s Sabbatical Grant for Researchers Program enables scholars to conduct a major study that can contribute to the vitality of Christianity in North America. Grants of up to $40,000 support year-long research projects that address Christian faith and life, pastoral leadership, and/or religious institutions.

The Louisville Institute is funded by the Religion Division of Lilly Endowment and based at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary (Louisville, Kentucky). The Institute’s fundamental mission is to enrich the religious life of North American Christians and to encourage the revitalization of their institutions, by bringing together those who lead religious institutions with those who study them, so that the work of each might inform and strengthen the other.

Alumnus Jonathan Bean `01 is the recipient of the 2013 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for children’s picture books for his beautifully written and illustrated “Building Our House.”

Mike True, director of the Messiah College Internship Center, was named one of the most visionary and forward-thinking leaders in career services and recruiting, according to his peers who responded to the 2013 Career Services Insights Survey. True tied for first place.

The National Association of College and University Food Services awarded The Falcon, the Messiah College eatery located in the Eisenhower Campus Center, gold among medium-sized colleges. Applicants were judged based on menu and meal; facility design and merchandising; marketing; and nutrition and wellness.

Ray Norman, dean of the School of Science, Engineering and Health, recently spoke at a World Vision conference in Chicago about the attempted assassination attempt on him and his daughter while living in Africa and serving with World Vision. Norman’s story also reveals the depth of his Christian faith and his commitment to the Gospel of Jesus and helping the poor.

Watch a video of his presentation.

Biopsychology major Michael Skolka received a stipend from the American Physiological Association to continue his research on acute pancreatitis at Penn State Hershey. Skolka has already been invited to present his data at the 2014 National Experimental Biology meeting.

Messiah College is one of the 322 most environmentally responsible colleges in the U.S. and Canada, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company profiles Messiah College in “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges.”

The Princeton Review chose the schools for this guide based on a 50-question survey it conducted in 2012 of administrators at hundreds of four-year colleges.  The Company analyzed data from the survey about the schools’ course offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation to measure their commitment to the environment and to sustainability.

To learn more about Messiah extensive sustainability efforts, visit www.messiah.edu/sustainability.

Linda Tedford, director of choral activities at Messiah College, received one of two Arts Awards from Theatre Harrisburg at a gala on April 28. Tedford directs the College’s Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, Choral Arts Society and Men’s Ensemble. She is also founder and director of the Susquehanna Chorale, an ensemble-in-residence at Messiah that frequently performs with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra.

Messiah College is a silver sponsor of the Race Against Racism, a 5K run and walk around City Island, Harrisburg. The event raises funds to support the YWCA of Greater Harrisburg’s racial justice programs and initiatives.

Messiah College President Kim S. Phipps is immediate past president of the YWCA of Greater Harrisburg.